The company wanting to get planes flying at Manston again has submitted a fresh bid to re-open it after the government said its plans fell short.

RiverOak Strategic Partners (RSP) originally submitted a Development Consent Order in April, which would grant permission for infrastructure projects classed as nationally significant and compulsory acquisition powers of the land.

Yesterday (July 16) RSP confirmed it resubmitted its plans to the government, saying it has clarified its position on certain parts of the application.

Currently the airport site is owned by Stone Hill Park, who are pressing ahead with rival plans of up to 4,000 homes.

'The application fell short'

George Yerrall, a director of RiverOak Strategic Partners, said: “The original Development Consent Order application, which was submitted in early April, and which ran to 11,000 pages, was the culmination of 27 months of intensive work on the part of the RiverOak Strategic Partner team and our professional consultants.

The last ever scheduled flight left Manston on April 10 2014

"This included three separate consultation exercises as well as a complex planning appeal. We were therefore naturally disappointed to be informed by Planning Inspectorate that, in their view, the application fell short in certain respects.

"Nevertheless, we have taken up all the points raised by the Planning Inspectorate and, working with our full team, we have used the past nine weeks to provide full and comprehensive responses to those points.

"We have also taken the opportunity to clarify the situation in relation to the two museums.

There has been a huge campaign to re-open Manston Airport over the years

"We are promising to safeguard their position, as before, but have now made it clear that any future development consent relating to either museum would be a matter for Thanet District Council, rather than PINS.

“The submission sent to the Planning Inspectorate today incorporates all that additional work and we believe that the documentation as amended is sufficient to justify the Development Consent Order application being allowed to move to the next stage.”

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Rival plans

A total of 63 documents, containing almost 11,000 detailed pages, were been sent to the planning inspectorate with plans for an air freight hub with passenger and general aviation services.

But at a meeting held in May the Planning Inspectorate cited a number of concerns, including funding and whether the plans meet the definition of "nationally significant".

There were also concerns about noise and vibration and the firm's environmental statement.

Rival plans for Manston Airport have been submitted by developers Stone Hill Park

Notes of the meeting published by the inspectorate said: "On May 3 a teleconference was held between the Inspectorate, the applicant's legal representatives Bircham Dyson Bell and the application RiverOak Strategic Partners. During that teleconference the Inspectorate repeated its principal concerns in the presence of RSP, who confirmed their intention to withdraw the application. Subsequently the application was formally withdrawn by letter dated May 4, 2018."

Owners of the site Stone Hill Park submitted enhanced plans for the site in May, which include building up to 3,700 homes, a business park, sports village, heritage airport and the building of a new link road to Westwood Cross.

There would also be an Olympic sized swimming Pool, a surfing lake, a 120-bedroom hotel and a series of parks.